Video: Leadership and Maturity will “Make or Break” HailState Hoops in 2017-18

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) — HailState Hoops is ready for a return to the title.

Mississippi State Women’s Basketball held their annual media day today at the Mize Pavilion. Below is the transcript including questions and answers from head coach Vic Schaefer and players from MSU.

HEAD COACH VIC SCHAEFER

Opening Statement…

“Good afternoon. Thank y’all for being here today. It is an exciting time for us. New year, new team; we are different. We have four senior guards returning this year that are obviously going to be very good for us. Unfortunately, they all play the same position so it makes it hard to play them all at the same time. There is a combination where you might see them on the floor together, but unfortunately three of them are kind of locked in at the same spot. You will probably see three of them together a lot, but we have been working at it. We have had 14 team practices, and we will have the Maroon and White Scrimmage tonight. We are a long way from where we need to be, but that is part of it. We have five new players, four freshmen and a junior college player, who are really trying to learn the speed of the game. A couple of those kids are going to have to play some meaningful minutes for us. We will have some other younger players who haven’t played a lot of meaningful minutes in their career that will be thrown into the fire. Ameshya Williams is one of them who is going to have to play a lot for us and play two different positions, which really makes it difficult for a young player who hasn’t played a lot. It is hard enough learning one, but then you learn two positions, and it can be a challenge. We will play tonight and have the closed-door scrimmage. The following week we will have our first official exhibition to the public on Friday night before the football team plays UMass; and from that, we open to a very good Virginia team with four starters back. It is here, and we have a lot of work to do in a short period of time.

On the guards…

“Well Myah [Taylor] has come in and has been a competitor. I love her presence. She is a great teammate. She’s a basketball player. She has a tremendous IQ for the game. Her work ethic is incredible. She is going to be a superstar for us. She is competing with Jazzmun [Holmes] and Morgan [William] right now, so that is a threesome that is very important. The challenge is going to be a weekly battle as is a lot of our spots right now. You all do not need to get accustomed to seeing the same lineup out there every night, because I promise it is going to change. I have balance at certain sports, but I am going to let those kids compete and battle it out every week. Whoever is hot is who will get to start, and the other ones coming off are coming off hungry and more than capable. A lot like how we ended the year last year, I think we have some combinations especially with Victoria [Vivians], Blair [Schaefer] and Roshunda [Johnson]. Those three are all two guards. I can play Mo and Blair with Victoria. I can also play Mo and Blair together like I did last year in the NCAA tournament, it’s just not quite as big. We are a little smaller. But the bottom line, as we stand here today, Roshunda Johnson is our best rebounder offensively, which is a problem when I am dealing with Victoria because Victoria should be. But right now with 14 practices, Roshunda Johnson has gone to the board and done more rebounding than any of our other guards. We have some depth that and that allows those kids to really be good. They don’t care who starts. They just care about winning. I love that about them, their unselfishness. They’re chemistry is really good. You put any of those three together on the floor with Jazz, Morgan and Myah, they find each other on the perimeter when we are running the break. I watch them and when we are towing the line shooting the three in transition and part of me is wanting to go get the layup, but the other part is like that is a pretty good shot for that kid. Blair and Roshunda are as good out there as they are going in for a layup that is contested, whereas I would like for Victoria to go in there and really attack the rim because she has size. You can’t get to her. It is really fun to watch those kids when we get up and down a little bit. The chemistry they have with each other – I think that is the beauty of having those four seniors, then you throw Jazz in there. Y’all always talk about how improved Teaira is, and she is even more improved today than she was this time last year, but Jazzmun Holmes has probably improved as much or more than anyone on our basketball team. She and Morgan are really pushing each other, along with Myah every day.”

On filling the forward position…

“You have Chloe [Bibby], Ameshya [Williams] and you have Jonika [Garvin] right now all competing there. Ameshya needs to play some five for me. I think if you play Ameshya and Teaira together, you have some size and length that could create some problems; but the problem is, you can’t afford to get either one of them in foul trouble. You have to pick and choose your spots when you do play them together. Chloe’s skill set is really good especially for her age. She is learning the speed of the game dealing with some of the athleticism you have to deal with at the four. The faster she can get acclimated to that, the better off we will all be on our team. Skill set wise she is really solid. She has a great shot, smart, heavy and runs the floor well. I am really excited about her. We just have to get her accustomed to the athletic piece that she will have to deal with on our team and with the teams we will play against.”

 

On senior guards Johnson, Schaefer, Vivians and William…

“I think those four kids bring it every day. Leadership and maturity are going to be either what makes us or breaks us this year. If we have servant leaders and maturity, we will be fine. Just because you are 22 years old and you have been playing basketball for 10 years doesn’t make you a mature basketball player, so I think that piece is critical right now, the servant leader and the maturity. But that doesn’t say anything about someone’s jump shot. Those four seniors, I need them to continue to do what they do on the court, but I need them to do more off the court and I think that will really show and pay dividends for our team and program if we can get them to do that. They are wonderful young ladies; they make good grades and they represent us well in the community. You know how it is, if you have your own kids, you want more, I want more. I need more from them. I think that is going to be a big key for us from them.”

 

On his expectations for junior center Teaira McCowan…

“She shot about 60% a year ago. She is someone I would love to be able to go through and run my offense through and have her touch the ball quite a bit. She shot 53% in her career, 57% last year. I think offensively she has really shown she can make some baskets and score the ball for us just this year. She has worked hard in the off season with Coach [Johnnie] Harris and she is developed. She is better today than she was a year ago. Everyone a year ago wanted to know if he could make a layup; well, I think she has proved she can do that and a bunch more. She has been really good. We have gotten her the ball a lot one on one in situations on the floor. She has been able to finish. I think y’all saw last year when teams tried to double her – she’s a great passer. She sees the floor extremely well. She finds her teammates. I am excited for her. The challenge for me is getting 30 minutes a night out of her, and I have to keep her out of foul trouble and I have to keep her playing hard. You take that two-headed monster we had a year ago with her and Chinwe [Okorie], what they averaged in points and rebounds together. Now I have her and a sophomore who hasn’t played a lot in Ameshya, trying to fill that role, and Zion, who has played probably less than Ameshya as a redshirt sophomore. We have to develop those kids. Ameshya is going to play. She has to understand that she is going to play at either the four or the five so we have to get her ready. Our job as coaches is we have to get these kids ready. It does not matter what their history, it does not matter how much they have played, what their stat line is, we have to get them ready to play. Our expectation is to win and to do that, we have to get some young kids ready who have not played a lot.”

On Mississippi State’s national brand…

“I don’t want to lose the really good program piece. I want to continue to be that really good program. I think our brand at Mississippi State has grown a lot just in the five years that I have been here going on year six. Yes, women’s basketball has grown and I hope we have helped that brand, but when football has the No. 1 team in the country five-straight weeks and the ESPN trucks are rolling by my office every Monday morning to go over there, that helps your brand. When you look at a lot of our programs here, track and field is always in the top 15, top 12 or top 10. Baseball, too. You have a lot of people who are exposing and promoting our brand, and if women’s basketball can help in that, that is our job. I told Scott [Stricklin] when he hired me, ‘If you give me an opportunity, I won’t let you down,’ and I have continued that with Coach [John] Cohen. We know what we are doing. My staff is really good; they work extremely hard. We take great pride in the product that we have. No one is going to outwork us, and I think when you have that as a collective ingredient and when you work, you help expose the brand which is Mississippi State. Women’s basketball has been on the lips and tongues of people for three years now. Twenty-seven, 28 and 34 wins –that is a lot of winning. I think that has allowed us to be where we are today. I told y’all before: the only thing harder than building it is keeping it there; and that is our challenge. But that is our expectation.”

 

ROSHUNDA JOHNSON, RSR, G

On her contributions on the court this season…

“I have to continue working hard and push my teammates. Whatever we do, we’re behind one another.”

 

On senior leadership for new team members…

“Where we were last year, we have to uphold that. We want our freshman to be held to a higher standard.”

 

On new teammates looking up to the upperclassmen…

“I feel like they know they have someone to look up to. We’ve been in intense game situations, so they know that we are here to help guide them.”

 

BLAIR SCHAEFER, SR, G

On growing from last year’s season…

“I think every day we remind each other that we have new players, and we lost key components to our team from last year. We have to find new players and old players that are still here to fill those roles that we did lose. Those four played critical minutes for us. We have to understand that we need to rebuild every year. We are still rebuilding right now and we are going to be a great team, but we have to find that chemistry again.”

 

On stepping into a leadership role…

“We have to lead by example. You can only explain things so many times. At one point, they have to look to us for guidance, support and to tell them that it is ok and you’re going to mess up. They are not going to get it on the first day. We went through that. We have to remind them of that as well. We are letting them know that we didn’t get it on the first day, we didn’t get the chemistry that we had in the NCAA Tournament last year, on the first day. It is a process. Every part of this team is going to be a process. Communication between each other on those aspects is really important.”

 

On working to replace last year’s seniors…

“It comes from working hard. Dominique Dillingham was a great player because she had a work hard mentality. She was always going to outcompete you and outhustle you. If we find that player on our team, it will be great. It comes from working hard. You work hard when you have people pushing you every day. We need to let people know the little things add up. That is why Dillingham was so good. We will find that player but we are still working on that piece.”

 

VICTORIA VIVIANS, SR, G

On entering her senior year…

“This is my senior year, best year. This is my last year so I am very excited to get it started and have a great season with my teammates.”

 

On growing from last year’s season…

“You can’t be satisfied. We didn’t win anything. We came in second in everything we did. That gives us something to strive for and to work for this season.”

 

On stepping into a leadership role as a senior…

“Last year’s team was great. Last year’s seniors were great. I feel like we have another role to play. We can’t play the same role the seniors played last year because we didn’t reach the goals we wanted to reach. I feel like this year’s seniors have something to strive for. We have to try to get first place now instead of second place. We have been together all of the time and have tried to put the team on our backs.”

 

MORGAN WILLIAM, SR, G

On starting a new season…

“It was very exciting last go around, so I want to make it the best.”

 

On younger players beginning a new year…

“Coach does a good job praising that this is a new year and new team. The past is behind us and we’ve got a new identity.”

 

On this team’s identity…

“We will still be a defensive team. We lost four seniors, so we lost some experience and depth. Our identity will be playing hard and running the floor.”

 

 

JAZZMUN HOLMES, JR, G

On her expectations for the season…

“I want to try to develop myself into a leader. I want to win at turnovers and be more consistent for my team.”

 

On being an upperclassman on the team…

“I need to grow up a little bit and try to do things Coach Schaefer asks of me.”

 

On how she improved in the offseason…

“I worked on shooting, ball handling and communication.”

 

TEAIRA MCCOWAN, JR, C

On her thoughts on the new team…

“The new girls are coming along really good for the short amount of time they’ve had. But there are times when they don’t understand what we’re doing, so we’re doing a lot of teaching.”

 

On stepping up and being a leader for new team members…

“When Coach [Schaefer] says something and they are confused about what he said, I just go over and break it down in further detail so they understand to the fullest.”

On improving her form from last season to now…

“I’m running the floor better and rebounding more. I’m communicating with my teammates. I’m finishing through contact with my left hand up high. I think I’ve improved a lot.”